RR volunteers engineer evacuee train

By: CYNTHIA LESCALLEET

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Two trains loaded with almost 750 evacuees of Hurricane Rita left Houstons Amtrak station Thursday afternoon, thanks to a coordinated effort among railways, railroad volunteers and public transportation organizations in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Synergy happens, said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.

Railroad expert Dr. John Bertini of West University Place was a pivotal player in the project, said many involved in the emergency management effort.

Chairman of the Galveston Island Railroad Museum & Terminals board of directors, Bertini said that organization has handled this sort of thing before.

Amtrak sent a passenger train with limited crew and provisions from San Antonio to Houston early Thursday morning and contacted Bertini for assistance.##M:(full story)##

He grabbed his megaphone and gathered a handful of railroad volunteers, including Jim McLean of Bellaire.

After buying snacks for passengers, they headed to the Amtrak station, tidied the passenger cars and stocked the cafe car.

The first busloads of storm evacuees arrived at noon, Bertini said. They were mostly from shelters, and many of them were young, infirm or elderly.

The train left for San Antonio with 298 passengers at 1 p.m., and the trip took four hours, Magliari said.

An unnamed truck driver, who had been stranded at the station after making a delivery, worked the caf car, according to Bertini.

As Amtraks role unfolded, Fort Worth based BNSF Railway, working with commuter rail Trinity Railway Express, operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Forth Worth Transportation Authority, provided a second train for evacuees.

TRE had sent a six-car commuter train to Galveston, but when it was not used in evacuations there, the railway diverted it to Houston, said Pete Sklannik, TREs chief operating officer.

The TRE train, loaded with 450 evacuees, left at 2:55 p.m. Thursday and arrived at Dallas Union Station Dallas 12 hours later, after a stop in Teague, Sklannik said.

To avoid problems with other rail traffic, the commuter rail had an arrangement with freight railroads that own and operate on the railroad tracks between Houston and Dallas.

He called the mobilization a team effort of state, local and federal government and the private sector.

Volunteer McLean, who said his role was to show up and help, said the railroad evacuation effort was orderly. Most (passengers) were in a good mood.

Bertini, a passenger railroad advocate, pointed out that loading a railroad car is easier and faster than loading a bus and avoids the congestion of the roadways.

The Hurricane Rita evacuation was Amtraks second partnership with Houstons Metropolitan Transit Authority this month, Magliari said. During Hurricane Katrinas aftermath, Amtrak ran a train from New Orleans to Lafayette, La., and Metro buses shuttled passengers from there to Houston.

As of Monday, Amtrak had not yet determined how or when all evacuees would be returned to Houston. Normally, Amtraks Sunset Limited service between Houston and San Antonio runs three days a week in each direction.

TREs Sklannik said the passengers carried to Dallas will likely return to Houston by bus.